When it comes time for hindsight, i’ve noticed some people tend to dwell on the bummer times, loss, tragedy, what didn’t happen or failed to achieve the desired results.
It’s all part of the tapestry of life, but i’m going to focus on the things that made 2015 great for me and mine. No tags, no links.
-Released “the Enemy of Everyone†by Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends. The first record with songs I wrote and arranged myself. Recorded with a killer new band I put together full of badass players and people. Some people seemed to like it, which is always nice. I dedicated the whole thing to my passed on ex-best friend Clay. RIP you crazy bastard.
-Attended PRF Thundersnow 2015 and had a great time in the Upper peninsula seeing badass bands at a offseason resort hotel on a frozen lake (third year running!)
-Launched Radio NOPE a 24/7/365 streaming internet station/podcast network and bringing together many friends and likeminded shows as well as developing brand new ones.
-Broke my streaming radio show/podcast (Protonic Reversal) away from the community station it started at and moved it to said station. Somehow, after some growing pains, managing to have to the show be better than ever and helping move it along to where it should be. I think 2016 will be a great year for the show.
-Finished writing and arranging the second Secret Friends record.
-Recorded the second Secret Friends record with, again the same badass players and people. It turned out really good. Soon, Soon.
-Threw the second PRF BBQ West in Oakland, hosting many amazing bands from both locally and far away, including the mighty Survival Knife!
-Survival Knife played through the backline, which was all of my music gear (sans drums). (gearnerd alert, and Unwound is one of the reasons I play music)
-Played a cool one-off set from my long defunct noise rock band Replicator at said PRF West event.
-Attended and played PRF BBQ 2015 Chicago with a super fun Secret Friends set.
-Hosted Mr. Brett Eugene Ralph at our place in Oakland for a series of good times, laughs and stories that I never wanted to end.
-Visited Louisville, Kentucky for the first time longer than a gas stop/stop for bandmates to get cigarettes. Attended and played the first PRFBBQ Louisville with the Secret Friends.
-Visited Oahu and the Big Island of Hawaii on a more or less proper human vacation and got to do many, many adventurous things, hiking, snorkeling, etc. including fulfilling my lifelong dream of seeing a live, active volcano up close and hiking the entire 7 mile non-active crater of mighty Kilauea.
-Saw a bunch of fantastic shows Shellac, the Ex, Melvins, Mountain Goats, Flipper w/David Yow, Torche, Melt Banana, John Reis & the Blind Shake. Marc Maron’s comedy live. Many more as well.
-Did a remarkable amount of work stuff that really would only be of interest to other people in the engineering sector I work in, but that were huge strides forward, palpably beneficial and sometimes kind of inventive. It would not be inaccurate to say that some of the work I did helped save some lives, and it certainly helped enrich some.
-Met some really amazing people and strengthened a few loose acquaintances into strong friendships.
-Did my rock solid best to try to make the world a little less crappy in as many ways as I could. (usually small)
